This post stems from a talk at church a couple of months ago by Leslie Ranck – a Californian born missionary who now ministers with her husband Steve in Norway.
Leslie spoke of God’s will, and how it certainly differs for each and every one of us. Most of us also never carry out his perfect will for our lives, because we simply decide not to – either blatantly or by thinking we’re doing the right thing when we’re really not fully seeking Him. God does work through this though, and still builds a will for our lives despite our non-compliance with the way he would have liked to have had it.
The bulk of Leslie’s talk, however, focussed on God’s general will for our lives. God’s specific will can only be fully uncovered when we start following His general will.
So, what is it?
It’s written throughout the Bible. As someone who grew up in a Christian family, I knew most of this in the back of my mind already. But was I doing it? No. Leslie’s talk gave me the further knowledge and prompting I needed to start trying to do His general will and through that, seek His specific will for me.
Following is a list of verses that I wrote down from the talk:
- 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5
- 1 Thessalonians 5:17-22
- 1 Timothy 2:1-4
- 1 Peter 2:13-15
- Matthew 5:44
- Matthew 18:21-22
- Psalm 66:18
- Proverbs 18:19
- Luke 17:1-2
- Malachi 3:8-11
Each of these says something about what God expects each of us to do. Some of it is easy to follow, and some of it isn’t. There’s certainly some things I can put some effort into improving on! If you think God may be wanting to reveal to you more of His specific will for your life, have a read of these verses and see what you can do to follow His general will first.
